12/14

Today is review day for exams and I am getting more and more stressed as they get closer. I printed out my essay last night and put it in my bookbag and this morning I could not find it. I got very stressed, luckily someone in my advisories helped get through it. I went down to the learning commons this morning during my first mod, luckily I had band, so it was okay. The printer would not work and I had to get help. He had to restart my laptop and connect the printer in a very confusing way. It took forty minutes to print. I ended up being thirty minutes late to my first mod. It is alright though because I ended up turning in the paper in right on time.

12/11

Today we took our test on Migration and I am pretty sure I failed even though I studied. I am sure I could have done better. I still do not know what I am going to write for the Essay. I know I am going to d the first topic, but I am not sure what countries I wan to do. I am officially stressed out because of exams. I am hoping to do well. I just need to study. My plan is to study all of this week and on Sunday study for the English and Biology exam, Monday I am going to study for the Math and my German exam, and Tuesday study for Bible and Human Geography. It is stressful because I can not even remember all of one unit, yet alone a whole semesters worth of stuff, but I am go to work hard in order to at least pass.

12/10

• Immigration concerns in Europe
• Population growth in Europe is fueled  by immigration from other regions of the world a trend disliked by many Europeans
• biggest fear is that the host country's culture will be lost, because immigrants:
• adhere to different religions 
• speak different languages
• practice different food and other cultural habits

• hostility to immigrants has become a central park of some political parties in many European countries
• immigrants blamed for crime, unemployment rates, and high welfare costs
• Characteristics of Migrants 
• Ravenstein noted:
• Most long distance migrants are male
• most long distance migrants are adult individuals rather than families with children
• most long distance migrants are young adults seeking work rather than children and elderly people

12/7 Notes

• Countries have adopted selective immigration policies
• preference shown for specific employment placement and family reunification
• passing of the Quota Act in 1921 and the national Origin Acts in 1924 by the U.S. congress marked the end of unrestricted immigration to the U.S
• about 3/4 of immigrants
• skilled workers
• approximately 1/4 of immigrants 
• sending countries alleged preference for skilled workers contributes to brain drain
• Diversity
• a few immigrants admitted because their sending country historically has sent very few migrants 
• unauthorized immigrants are those who enter a country without proper documents
• characteristics of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. 
• Source country 
• roughly 58 percent emigrate from Mexico 
• Children make up 1 million of them and born on U.S. soil making them U.S. citizens
• Duration of residency has increased for unauthorized immigrants
• in 2010, 35 percent of adults had been U.S. for at least 15 years
• Labor force
• approximately 8 million unauthorized immigrants are employed in the U.S. 
• Distribution
• Texas and California have largest number of unauthorized immigrants 
• Mexico's border w/ U.S. recognizes motives that compel unauthorized immigrants enter illegally
• employment opportunities
• family reunification
• batter way of life 
• view from Mexico is more complex
• residents of northern Mexico wish for compassion to be shown to the unauthorized immigrants
• residents of southern Mexico are less tolerant because of number of unauthorized immigrants entering Mexico from countries like Guatemala

12/5

• Why do migrants face challenges?
• a migrant needs a passport in order to legally emigrate from a country and a visa in order to legally immigrate to another country.
• The U.N. classifies countries according to four types of immigration policies: 1. maintain the current level of immigration, 2. increase the level, 3. reduce the level, 4. no policy. Similarly, emigration policies are identified by the same four classes. 
• Unauthorized immigration:
• historically high level and the number of people who wish to come is an even greater number. The people who can not afford enter U.S. illegally and those who do so are called unauthorized immigrants
• 11.3 unauthorized immigrants living in the united states in 2014, the number decined from 12 million because the reduced amount of job opportunities in 2008, the amount of unauthorized immigrants is now less than the number leaving.
• The distribution is mostly across Texas, California, and some in Nevada.
• The source country is more than half of Mexico emigrants 
• Children make up one million of unauthorized immigrants
• and 8 million of unauthorized immigrants are employed
• Quotas- maximum limits on the number of people who could immigrate to the united states during one-year period 
• Twelve million immigrants were processed at Ellis Island in 1892 to 1954, Ellis Island is no longer used to process immigrants , it is now the museum of immigration
• Immigrants that are eligible to be admitted without limit are: children, spouse, and parents of a current U.S. citizens
• Brain Drain- large-scale emigration by talented people
• Chain migration- migration of people to a specific location because relative or members of the same nationality previously migrated there
• Mexico border is 1,951 miles long
• American would like more border patrol, work, civil rights and local initiatives
• Guest worker- someone who is from a poorer country who is temporarily working for a business
• circular migration- temporary movement of a migrant worker

Notes 12/4

       United States is inhabited by a lot of immigrants. About eighty million people migrated to the Untied States between the early 1800s and 2015. There are three main eras of immigration that the United States has experienced
- Colonial settlement in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
- Mass European immigration in the late nineteenth centuries
- Asian and Latin American immigration in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries

       The Untied States population was 3.9 million and 950,000 of them were immigrants from Europe and Sub- Saharan Africa. In 1790 sixty-two percent of immigrants came from Europe and thirty- eight percent were Sub- Saharan and came to America as slaves. Most Europeans were voluntary migrants, but Africans typically were not.

       During the mid 1800s most migrants came from Ireland and Germany. The migration rate jumped from twenty thousand to two hundred thousand people. Later Scandinavia started to migrate to he U.S. and soon enough southern and eastern Europe started to make their way over to the United States. The annual immigration to the Untied States reached one million. and two thirds were southern and eastern European.

        Immigration started to decline in the 1930s and 1940s during the Great Depression and World War II. After that immigration started to increase steadily and during the first decade of the twenty-first century immigration surged to historical heights. Most immigrants today are Latin American. thirteen million Latin Americans have migrated to the U.S. in the past half century. Seven million Asians migrated to the U.S. in the past half century and most are from China, Vietnam, India, and the Philippines. Mexico makes up most of the immigration rate in the United States. They exceeded Germany in 2006. After the U.S government took control over the huge amount of immigrants coming in to the U.S., They issued visas to all the people without proper and legal documentation.

           

12/3

In 1939 nine hundred Jews fleeing Germany sailed to the United States for asylum and were turned down by more than one country. They ultimately went back to Europe. As Germany grew larger, most of them ended up in Nazi death camps. After World War II Untied States decided to never turn down refugees.

non reforma (not returning)- 1951 United Nations meeting

United States takes you in if your country is discriminating against you.

Persecution by government or government will not protect you against race, nationality, religion, politics, and/or social group

Democracy = beacon for equality and freedom. Untied States gains politaclly and from an advantage point as well as the people seeking refuge

Victims of domestic violence are granted Asylum, who aren't being protected by their country (under Obama)

Gang Violence?

Terrorism?

Sexuality?

Surge of fifty thousand people seeking refuge

11/29

Today in class we talked about Trump and what our opinions were on him. I do not have much of an opinion about him. Some of the things he does and stand for, I agree with but I also don not with other things he has done. I think migration into the united states can become a problem if we let everyone into the United States, but I also think that keeping everyone out is not necessarily a good thin either because our country is based off of people coming here in order to start over, o if we just get rid of it all together, one our population will decline greatly, and two we will not be biding by what we stand for. It was unexpected for this topic to be brought up in class and I am not sure how I feel about it.

11/28

Today in Human Geography class we were given a book of the chapter and were told to highlight or underline what we new and what was in our notes. The book went in more depth than the PowerPoint and it helped a lot. It mad some of the notes easier to understand. I highlighted more than I needed to in some parts, but that's okay. I understand the material better. I will be starting to study for the mid-term exams next week, giving me plenty of time to refresh my memory of all the material we have learned. I hope to get a good grade for all subjects. I am nervous for math because I am not the best at it and I have been having difficulties learning some of the material, but I am positive that I will pull through with a decent grade. I just want to get it done and over with in order to just relax and not worry about anything for a while.

11/27 Notes

Migration

• Where are migrants distributed?
• Where to do people migrate within a country?
• Why do people migrate?
• Why do migrants face obstacles?

-Mobility- most generalized term that refers to all types of movement.

- circulation- short- term and repetitive acts of mobility.

-migration- a permanent move to a new location 

- Net Migration

-Ravenstein's "law" for the distance that migrants typically move.

•  most migrants relocate a short distance and remain in the same country
• long-distance migrants to other countries head for major centers of economic activity

- Migration can be divided into two categories 

1. International Migration- permanent move from one country to another -voluntary -forced
2. Internal Migration- permanent move in the same country -interregional - innerregional

- Approximately nine percent of the world's people are international migrants

- Global pattern reflects migration tendencies from developing countries to developed countries

• Net Out-migration

-Asia, Latin America, and Africa

• Net In-migration 

- North America, Europe, and Oceania

-U.S. has more foreign-born residents than any other country: approximately forty- three million as 2010-- growing by one million 

- three main eras of immigration in the U.S. 

- Colonial settlements in seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

-Mass European immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

- Asian and Latin American integration in the late twentieth and twenty- first centuries

11/20

Today we took the quiz on the Hans Rosling video. I think I did pretty well, considering that I basically just had to know what was on the paper for the question sheet we had to fill out while watching the video. It was a ten question quiz and is worth twenty points and I need my grade to be brought up a bit, it is not a bad grade, I would just like to have a better one. The reason it is as low as it is, is because I forgot to my blogs during the week of the play, so I was preoccupied. It is not a big deal, I just have to work a bit harder to get my grade to where I want it to be at. I also did not do too great on the test we just had about a week ago. It was not a bad grade it was a high C or a low B, which not bad, but again, just not what I want it to be. This just means I have to work harder than I was before.

11/19

today in class we watched a video about population and how it grew over the past two hundred years ago, or just about. It showed that around 1810 all countries and nations were in stage one with a high birth rate and high death rate. Around the industrial revolution European countries and the Americas started to grow in population and death rates started to rapidly decline and entered stage two and three, but the Asian region, the Middle East, and sub- Saharan Africa stayed in stage one. It showed how after time the Asian countries started to catch up, but sub-Saharan Africa was still behind, but not in stage one. It showed how during wars, plagues and tragedies, the countries would rapidly drop in life expectancy and how after wars, curtain countries would rapidly grow, and curtain countries would rapidly drop or not change at all depending on the results of the war. It eventually got into the 2000s and showed how sub- Saharan countries were far behind because they do not have the recourses that countries like the United States have. However, no country is in stage one.

11/16 Notes

- Sex Ratio

• Defined as the number of males per hundred females in the population
• developed countries have more females than males because they tend to live about seven years longer than men.

-The Demographic Transition

• Why natural increase rises and falls

1. stage 1: Low Growth

marked by very high birth and death rates

no long term natural increase

no country is presently in stage one

2. stage 2: High Growth

rapidly declining death rates and very high birth rates 

high natural increase

Europe and North America entered stage 2 as a result of the industrial revolution (~1750)

3. stage 3: Moderate Growth

marked by rapid decline in birth rates and steady death rates

natural increase is moderate

gap between CBR and CDR is narrower in stage three countries than stage two countries

population grows because CBR is still greater than CDR

4. stage 4: Low Growth

marked by very low birth and death rates 

no long term natural increase and possibly a decrease

country reaches stage four when population gains by CBR are diminished by losses because of CDR

condition known as zero population growth (ZPG)

demographers more precisely defined ZPG as the TFR that produces no population change population change results from immigration

- Declining Birth Rates

• two successful strategies for lowering birth rates 

1. improve education and health care 

emphasizes improving local economic conditions so that increase wealth is allowed to education and health programs seeking lower birth rate

    2.   Contraception

more immediate results reaped than pervious approach

met with greater resistance because it goes against culture and religious beliefs 

Why is Global Population Increasing?

• components of population growth
• natural increase
• about 82 million people are added to the population of the world annually
• more than 95 percent of the natural increase is clustered in poor countries
• fertility- total fertility rate (TFR)
• TFR for the world is 2.42
• exceeds 5 in sub-Saharan Africa, while 2 or less in nearly all European countries
• mortality- Infant mortality rate (IMR)
• measure used by geographers to better understand death rates in society
• defined as the annual number of deaths of infants under one year of age, compared with total live births
• usually expressed per 1,000 births rather than percent
• IMR is 5 in developed countries and 80 in sub-Saharan Africa
• Summary of Spatial patterns

-developed countries                               -developing countries

   lower rates of                                             higher rates of

                                   -Natural Increase

                                   -Crude Birth

                                   -Total Fertility

                                   -Infant Mortality

11/13

Today in class we talked about the test. I zoned out most for most of it. It is okay I got an 89 so its no big deal. I am not really worried because that is not a bad grade. I guess I am going to do better on the next test. I forgot I had Biology homework so I am going to have to do that in my free period tomorrow, but that is okay. I only got four wrong on the test and it was the ones that I did actually know, but it is okay.

11/6

Today in class we talked about what movies that Mr. Schick worked for. It was interesting. I will not be in class Wednesday or Thursday because of the play and we do not have class Friday, so I am wondering when I can take the test. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. I am also hoping that I do no have to make up to much work, but I have a feeling that I will have to. It will be okay though because I will take the time to do the homework and do it when I can. I am now just trying to get all my work done during my free periods, that way I have less to do at home and so I can go do other things, but this week is going to be a long hard week.

Ted Talk

Today we watched TED talks about population pyramids. It was about how each country's population will increase or decrease over time and what the reasons for that are. I almost fell asleep in because of the Basilica trip. The bus was a horrible time because people are unnecessarily obnoxious   . Someone was bribed to drink as much water as possible the person managed to drink about 7 to 10 small waters. That was at least a little entertaining. After the first TED talk we watched another TED talk about a model who is basically considered what our society "prefers." She explained how opposite gender and race does not get the benefits she would get by looking "beautiful." I found that interesting.

11/1

Today in class we talked about population pyramids for different cities. Most of them were special because they had a major difference between age group. The military base had mare man than women at the age people would normally enroll in the military until the age they would retire from the military which would usually be thirty to forty. The city in Michigan had more college students because The University of Michigan was a big impact of their population. Springfield, Illinois was a more boxy pyramid because it contains a lot for every age group. The city in Florida had a Jurassic measurement in elder people because it is where a lot of elders move and then live. We then looked at what the world's population pyramid looked like and in the future it becomes more and more boxy and eventually it starts to become more like the cup shape. 

Population Pyramids

Population Pyramids

• we use population pyramids to analyze growth ( or decline) of fertility, morality, and migration in cities (males are always on the left of the pyramid and women are on the right)
• three basic shapes

- Christmas tree-- developing nation growth rates are slow; high birth rate, short life expectancy; ex: Namibia
- The box-- slow growth, low infant mortality, slow population growth, and long life expectancy; ex: USA; Sweden
- The cup-- developing nation; negative growth, low birth rate, shrinking population, long life expectancy; ex: Italy; Japan

10/29

Today in class we talked about last Friday's assignment. I did not realize we had to write brief paragraph about each fact about the country we chose. Luckily we were aloud to fix our mistakes. I fixed my assignment and emailed him about it. I hope my grade goes up enough to keep it at an A for this quarter. I think it will happen, but you never know. I did not realize that I had to write five paragraphs about each fact. It will be okay it is not the end of the world. I am just trying to get second honors now, so hopefully my grade does not go down because i have exactly a 4.1 GPA. I do not know how I am passing half my classes because I do not understand half of the material we are doing.

Qatar

        Qatar is a country that is located off of the Persian Gulf. It has a population of 2,314,307 people as of July 2017 and the average age of the people is 25-54.  The population is high compared to how small the country is. It is smaller than Connecticut and bigger than Delaware.

        All of the population is forced to labor and to a lower force, prostitution. Migrants are legally forced to work in poor conditions and get a low pay rate. They are forced to give up passports and are unable to live in poor quality homes. Women are forced into prostitution sometimes.
 
       The population of the men that age is 1,359,383 hundred. The women only have 274,334 people. I found this interesting because most countries have a close to similar rate of men and women and for the population of men and women.This is because of immigration. With that more men immigrated to Qatar than women which explains why there are very few compared to the men.
     
        There are 67.7% are Muslim and 13.8% are Christian or Hindu, and 3.1% are Buddhist, 0.1% of folk religion, 0.1% are Jewish, 0.7% are other and 0.9% unaffiliated. I found that Qatar was close to the more Muslim countries. However, I found it interesting that there are a good bit of Jews in Qatar. It was interesting because you would not expect people with the Jewish religion because it is not really one of those countries.

  Their growth rate is 2.27% the birth rate is 9.6 births per 1,000, and the death rate is 1.5 per 1,000. The N.M.R. is 14.6 per 1,000. This is related to what we are doing in class. The birth rate is super high, which means that the population is growing rapidly. The death rate is way lower than the birth rate.

10/25 Notes

• Net Migration Rate: the difference between the number of person's entering and leaving a country during a year

- an excess of persons entering the country is net immigration

• written as a positive number
• example: Canada has 5.65 migrants per 1,000 population
•                U.S. has 2.45 ( it was 3.62 in 2015)

- an excess of persons leaving the country is net emigrant

• written as a negative number
• example: Mexico has -1.68 migrants per 1,000 population
•  -3.61 two years ago, -3.11 last year  

notes 10/23

Life expectancy

• the average numbers of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year
• High: Monaco- (89.52 total: 85.63 men, 93.58 women
• #42 : U.S. - (79.68 total: 77.32 men, 81.97 women)
• Low: Chad- (49.81 total: 48.64 men, 51.03 women)
• crude birth rate: number of births per 1,000 of the population
• crude death rate: number of deaths per 1,000 of the population
• rate of natural increase (RNI)
• produced by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate 
• this gives us the annual natural growth rate- in percentage form- for a country or region

but don't forget about migration

Net migration Rate: the difference between the number of person's entering and leaving a country during a year

       - an excess of persons entering the country is the net immigration 

Population and Settlement

More people than ever!

• over 7.5 billion people on the planet right now
• increasing by over 73 million per year
• by approx. 200,00 per day
• 8,377 per hour
• 149 per minute
• 2.5 per second
• 90% of this population growth takes place in the developing countries of Africa, South and East Asia and Latin America

Population by the billions

population-- 1----- 2----- 3----- 4----- 5----- 6----- 7-----

year          --1804--1927--1960--1974--1987--1999--2011

years        --10,000- 123--33-----14-----13-----12-----12-----

elapsed

Test

Today we had a test. I think I did well because the test was not that hard. I did seem to have to figure some questions, but for the others I knew what the answer was. I am pretty positive that I passed. We were aloud to work on other homework or anything else we had to do after the test, so I started my math homework. I have no idea what we are doing in that class. It is Friday and I can not wait for this day to end. I just want to sleep and not do homework or worry about school. I am happy that the test is over with, but now we have to learn more material and I am not looking forward to that.

Discussion about time zones

Today in class we talked about time zones and how they will be on the test. It is an open map test so I am going to take advantage of that and make the most out of my map. The test is not until Friday. I do not want to take this test because I am not totally confidant that I know all the material, even though I studied. It is alright though because after class today I understood time zones a lot more than I did before. Since the test is Friday I have an extra day to study and I will use that time to make sure all my material that I will need is correct and I know it well. I have a good grade in this class, so I am not stresses about getting a lower score.

10/15 assignment

What did Eratosthenes accomplish

1.  He estimated the distance between the sun and earth and the moon and earth.
2. He also created The Sieve of Eratosthenes, which is a system that makes it easier to find prime numbers.
3. He was the first person to conclude why the Nile River flooded every year.

What time is it in... if it is 10:00 in Bel Air?

1. In Portland, Oregon it is 7:00
2. In Greenwich, England it is 3:00
3. In Toronto, Ontario it is 10:00
4. In the South Pole it is 4:00

Locations and place names

1. Some toponyms named after physical features are Ecuador, Campo Grande, Salt Lake City, Boston, MA
2.  Some toponyms named after Native American places are Alaska, Alabama, Colorado, California, and Delaware.
3. Some toponyms named after people are Bolivia, Columbia, El Salvador, Israel, and Cambodia

Latitude and Longitude

1. Baltimore, MD- 39.290580, -76.609260
2. Quito, Ecuador- -0.194408, -78.490368
3. Taveuni, an island in Fiji--17.813030, 178.129721
4. Christchurch, New Zealand--43.509102, 172.541120
5. Juneau, Alaska-58.30032 degrees N,-134.3176 degrees E

The definition of Geographic Antipode is any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it

1. Departmento Conesa, RN, Argentina
2. Perth, Australia
3. (39° 25' 39.3" S, 103° 41' 34.6" E) -39.427585, 103.692945 

 

10/10

Today in class we discussed about Global warming and we can prevent it. We can produce less coal and less oil. We should use more solar powered and wind powered resources. The reason why we are having so many hurricanes the past few years is because glaciers are melting and the water has no where to go and the wind blows it right into countries. The sooner we try to prevent all the glaciers from melting, the sooner we will not have as many issues with hurricanes and flooding. It is not about if countries may flood it is about when. If we do not try to prevent this, soon enough countries and continents will be fully submerged in water. Ways we may be able to reduce Global Warming is using less oil and coal and instead using more solar power and wind power. Even though coal and oil is the cheapest option, it is not the best way to power the world.

10/9 Notes

• Region of Culture 

Culture is the body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people

                                     origin of word, culture, is the Latrine cultures, which means "to care for", means to care about and to care for

Geographers study both definitions of culture 

       culture: what people care about

                   Geographers study why the customary ideas, beliefs, and values of a people produce a distinct culture in a particular place

                    Especially important cultural values derive from a group's language, religion and ethnicity

       culture:  What people take care of

                      The second element of culture of interest is production of material wealth, such as food, clothing, and shelter that humans need in order to survive and thrive

• scale is the relationship between the portion of the earth being studied and earth as a whoe
• Globalization is a force or process that involves the entire world and results in making something world wide in scope.

10/5 notes

• Geographers identify three types of regions

1. Formal Region (aka uniform region or homogenous region)

- an area in which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characters

• Ex: common language, economic activity, or climate 
• characteristics may be predominant rather than universal

2. Functional Region (aka nodal region)

• An area organized around a node or focal point
• The characteristic chosen to define a functional region dominates at a central focus or node and diminishes in importance outward

3. Vernacular Region (aka perceptual region)

• an area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity

10/3 notes

Location can be identified in three ways
      1. Place Names
- A Toponym is the name given to a place on Earth

•  Names derived from people of prominence, religious affiliation, physical features, or origins of its settlers

       2. Site

- Site is the physical character of a place

• Characteristics include climate, water sources, topography, vegetation, latitude, and elevation   

      3. Situation

• situation is the location of a place relative to other places
• Region: A Unique Area 

- A area on Earth defined by one or more distinctive characteristic is a region

• most often applied two scales

              1. Spanning political states

              2. Constrained within one political state

• a region derives its unified character through the cultural landscape- a combination of cultural, religious, and physical features

- "Culture is the agent, the natural area the medium, the cultural landscape is the result" - Carl O. Sauer, American Geographer

Test Results

We went over the test today. I got an A. I would have like to do better with the essay, but overall I did well. We talked about why Socrates said and did what he did. I did not explain the key point of the essay, which was about the fact that we should self-examine life, not let others chose for us. I could have explained that in a bit more detail. I got all the questions for multiple choice right and I also got the bonus question right which probably brought my grade up to an A. I'm am over all happy with the test and I will keep it, so I can study for exams in December.  I now know what tests are like in this Human Geography class. I do not want the tests to get harder, but I know they are going to, but I guess I have to deal with it. I now have a 96 over all in this class, so I am not worried to much. However, I still want to pass.

10/1 notes

Pinpointing Locations GPS
-Global Positioning System(GPS)
-System that accurately determines the precise position of something on Earth
- GPS in U.S. includes three elements
1. satellites placed in predetermined orbits
2. Tracking Stations to monitor and control satellites
3. Receiver that can locate at least four satellites, figure out distance from each, and use the info to calculate its precise location
Applications
- Turn-by-turn directions in vehicles
-Navigational aid to pilots and ship captains
-provide location for social media applications in a smartphone
Why is each point on Earth unique?
-a place is a specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic
-describing the features of a place is an essential building block for geographers to explain similarities, differences, and changes across Earth
-Geographers describe a feature's place on Earth by identifying its location, the position that something occupies on Earth's surface

9/27

Today some people finished their maps, blogs, and or other homework. I decided to finish my English homework. I really hate the assignment we are doing because I hate being forced to write. I love to create short stories, but I hate having to read and write in order to pass an assignment. It is alright though because I am almost done. At least after I finish my blog for today and my English assignment, I will be done homework. Thankfully I am about half way done this blog now. I am feeling better about my homework now. I am still dreading English. I really like my Human Geography class, we talk about a lot of interesting topics. That is why I don't mind writing these blogs. We are given more freedom to write what we want to write, unless we are taking notes then we are a bit more restricted on how we can write the blogs.

Lableing Maps

Today we labeled three different maps.  We had to label the 7 continents, 5 oceans, Equator, Prime Meridian, where our ancestors were originally from, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, the International Date Line, and where John Carroll is located. It was a tedious project and I found it annoying. I much rather have Mr. Schick go on a rant about a single topic. I generally like it, he gives a lot of information about how the people thought about the topic then verses now.  I like talking about how there are different ways to see the world. I, however, do not like taking a whole class to find locations of places on a map. I find it boring and tedious work. I didn't take long before I figured out where all the places were and how to draw them though. I don't think I did very well drawing the lines and other locations.

Latitude and Longitude

Parallels are arcs drawn parallel to the equator and at right angles to meridians, Each is numbered according to a system known as latitude. Values range from 0 degrees ( equator) to 90 degrees north or south

Every point on earth can be measured precisely using latitude and longitude
Further accuracy can be achieved by dividing each degree into 60 minutes and each minute into 60 seconds

Earth as a sphere is divided into 360 degrees of longitude
Divide 360 degrees by 24 time zones  for each hour of day equals 15 degrees

Greenwich Means Time (GMT) is located at the prime meridian (0 degrees longitude)
Passes through Royal Observation at Greenwich England
Master reference time for all points on Earth

Maps and Maps

Today we learned about the different types of maps and the development of the different maps. After we learned about the development of the maps, we watch a short part of a video and learned how the Mercator map is biased compared to the Peter's projection. The Mercator incorrectly show how some continents are shown. Greenland is half the size of Africa, where it should be about ten times smaller. Russia is also distorted. They went into information about how the subconscious mind creates the idea of "larger means more important."   Europeans were trying to show the spots that they think are important. Which is also why the America's are on the left because we from left to right, so our mind thinks that it is more important. In reality the largest continent is Africa, not Russia and Greenland is not half the size of Africa. Some people think that the map is biased and wrongly show, however in my opinion, the Europeans were just trying to show the spots that are most important to them.

9/19 notes

Key Issues

• How do Geographers describe where things are?
• Why is each point of earth unique?
• Why are different places similar?

Lessons

• 1.1.1: Explain the differences between early maps and modern maps
• 1.1.2: Describe the role of map scale and projections and making maps
• 1.1.3: Explain how latitude longitude are used to locate points on earth's surface

Geography- the study of where things are found on earth's surface and the reasons for their locations

Two questions Human Geographers ask are:

• Where are people and  activities found on earth?
• Why are the found there?

Map- two dimensional or flat scale model of earth's surface, or certain areas of it

Today we took a test on Excellence. I think I did well on it. I was having trouble on the question about polis. I took an educated guess and I wrote the word vote. When I looked back at the definition, I realized I was wrong, but that is all right. For the essay I wrote about why I think his quote, " The unexamined life is not worth living," is still relevant today and why I believe it is still important. I wrote about how modern technology got us here and if we stop wondering and asking questions, we will never fulfill what the capabilities of the human being. Over all, I think I may have only have gotten one or two wrong. I am anxious to see what my grade is and to see which ones I got wrong, so I know what I may need to work on in the future.

Socrates

September 18, 2018 is our first test. It is on A Message to Garcia, Socrates, the ancient Greeks, and the importance of Excellence. I am writing about Socrates and how he gives people a reason to think. He makes the statement of "The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates asks a series of questions in order to get you thinking. When he was put on trial his defense was " It's my job to be the gadfly to the lazy, sluggish horse that is Athens." I should actually be rewarded with free dinners for life."  He was found guilty by a jury of 550 male citizens. He was sentenced to death by hemlock. He was given an opportunity to escape, but he refused in order to prove his point. I believe that his words are still applicable to today's world because everyone needs to make up their own mind, not have their opinions based on others. People take advantage of people because they don't want to contradict others, or want to have to make their own decision.

9/13 Notes

The Controversy

• Athens was great city which attracted brilliant thinkers
• visitors from all over the world shard their knowledge of astronomy, medicine, meteorology, literature, philosophy, and all things scientific
• this was often at odds with traditional teachings which centered around the Greek gods which got young minds thinking and questioning

The Trial

• charged with two crimes: corruption of Athens' youth, and impiety (not believing in the gods of the state)
• his defense: " It's my job to be the gadfly to the lazy, sluggish horse that it Athens"- "I should actually be rewarded with dinners for life."
• jury of 500 citizens found him guilty (279 to 221?)
• sentenced to death by drinking poison hemlock
• he had the opportunity to escape, but HE REFUSED, proving his loyalty to Athenian democracy

"You Idiot"

• An idiot in Athenian democracy was someone who was characterized by self-centeredness and concerned almost exclusively with private- rather than public- affairs
• In Athenian democracy, idiots were born and citizens were made through education
• Declining to take part in public life, such as democratic government of the polis city-state was considered dishonorable

9/12 Notes

• imbecility: incapability, feebleness, stupidity
• stenographer: a person who takes dictation in shorthand
• missive: a letter, especially a long or official one
• Initiative to Excellence- arete- Excellence of any kind-moral virtue-fulfillment of purpose or function- the act of living up to one's full potential
• arete involves all of the potential and abilities available to humans
• the highest human potential is knowledge- all other abilities are derived from this- knowledge about knowledge itself
• Agora- a place in Greece where meetings were held about important things with everyday people
• polis: political entities ruled by their bodies of citizens origin of the words politics, metropolitan, poll
• 508 BCE- The Birth of Democracy
• Socrates- young man worked as stonemason-he fought in Peloponnesian War- his working class background and battlefield experiences may have shaped the way he viewed the world- met with young students in workshops just outside the agora-asked a series of questions to determine their underlying beliefs and the extent of their knowledge
• led to scientific method, and the way you proved or disproved your theory through experimentation

9/10 Notes

• Published March 1899
• inspirational essay
• republished as book
• 40 million copies sold
• translated to 37 languages
• made into movie twice, 1916, 1936
• "take a message to Garcia"- take initiative 
• setting: Spanish-American war
• Garcia- revolutionary of Cuba fighting for independence from Spain
• Rowan- Army officer- West Point class of 1881
• McKinley- William McKinley president of U.S. 1897-1901
• Tallest mountain in America called Denali renamed to Mt. McKinley and later changed back to Denali
• perihelion- when a planet is closet to the sun, and at its brightest
• Slipshod- careless, lackadaisical, remiss

A Message To Garcia

A Message to Garcia was written by Elbert Hubbard. It was based on a true story about a lieutenant during the Spanish-American War. In the story Andrew Summers Rowan was given the task from the president, to deliver a message to Garcia. Rowan excepted the task without hesitation. Elbert Hubbard was trying to inspire young men. He wanted to show that being courageous and willing to hold out any task given to them. He wanted to show that hard work and commitment is what should be given by all young men. Hubbard uses Rowan to show that hard work and commitment not only gives self-worth, but also goes for the betterment of others.

My First Day Of School

The events of my first day were a bit unsettling, but as the day went on I seemed to relax more and more. First things first, the beginning of the day. It started off with being in a rush because I was running late. Advisory came and I had to ask for help to open my locker. Once I finally got my books I went to my next class, then lunch. After lunch I went back to my locker. It took me ten tries to get it open. After that everything started to run more smoothly and I ended my day satisfied. It is the second day of school and I finally figured out how to get my locker open after a few tries and I am not running late to as many classes. I guess you can say I am much further ahead then most, but I still have a long way to go.